Celebrating life at Barchester

Mother’s Day at Ashlar House was a lovely and very busy occasion. Residents enjoyed spending special time with their families, with many visitors coming throughout the day to celebrate together. There were plenty of smiles as beautiful flowers were received, and rooms were brightened with colourful bouquets.

For those whose families were unable to visit in person, FaceTime calls were arranged so that everyone could still share in the celebrations and feel connected on this special day.

We were also delighted to welcome some very special additional visitors. Brooke and Darcie came along as part of their Girlguiding activities. Brooke is currently working towards her Kindness Badge and Darcie towards her Helper Badge. They are members of the 1st Fyfield Rainbow Unit and the 2nd Fyfield Brownie Unit.

It was wonderful to see the girls spending time with our residents, sharing their kindness, enthusiasm and smiles. Their visit brought great joy and was a truly lovely addition to our Mother’s Day celebrations at Ashlar House.

Residents at Tandridge Heights had a wonderful time celebrating Mother’s Day with a lovely afternoon party. The celebrations included a fantastic performance from singer Andy Mace, glasses of prosecco, and delicious homemade scones prepared especially for the occasion.

It was a joyful afternoon filled with family, friends, music, laughter, and great company as everyone came together to celebrate and make special memories.      

Here at Mulberry Court we have been celebrating Mothering Sunday. Did you know that Mothering Sunday traces back to medieval times and was originally a call to return to our “mother church,” the parish that connected our family to its faith? Servants and apprentices were granted a day off to visit their mother church, normally the parish of their baptism.   

With this in mind, Derek came and held a special Holy communion for us. These services are held fortnightly and everyone is welcome to attend.

We also made sure all our lovely ladies had a gift from us all. Here are a few pictures of some of our ladies with their presents.

Mother's Day at Oaklands was a full weekend of celebrations. Residents got involved with making flower arrangements for others cared for in their rooms and unable to do it themselves and then shared the joy of delivering goodies to them. As you can see, Kate loved pushing the trolly and having purpose in her day. 

We then welcomed local florist Jackie from Mill blossom flowers in Lode into the home to help teach and guide us to make some beautiful little table decorations and dried flower cards to gift to loved ones at a later stage. All residents were included Janie and her family, in her room having the same experience as all the other residents, just from the comfort of Janie’s room. We shared chocolates and sweet treats throughout the morning and filled the home with beautiful scents of the spring flowers.     

We are working hard on an ongoing art project with a community organisation, Red2 green, working towards an exhibition in June. We were fortunate last week to visit them for a collaborative art session with collaging, paint and clay and everyone had a fantastic morning. 

Ann, in a former life, worked with adults with additional needs, so she feels this project is well worth all the time we are giving it, and can’t wait to see the end result.  

So much fun on Memory Lane with Karaoke! 

We started off on an iPad and then thought it would be so much better on our Lifesize Activity Table and it worked! So much easier on the big screen for everyone to join in with a good sing along, so much joy and laughter!    

A lovely morning for everyone to enjoy having our local community with us celebrating Mothering Sunday! Beautiful flowers and chocolates for our residents and staff and amazing having a young lady from our local community playing the piano!

We wish all you amazing women out there a very Happy Mother’s Day! You are all more than amazing!    

A Senior Nurse, here at The Dales has received a prestigious 40 Years’ Service Award!

Joy Pickles started at Barchester in March 1986 and has worked with residents and their relatives to ensure that their needs have been met every day since she started! 

Joy is an amazing Senior Nurse. Everyone from residents, resident's families and staff love her to pieces and can’t thank her enough for everything she carries on doing!     

Wow, what a day we had here at Winchester House, celebrating Mother’s Day. We put on a special event to share the love with all our residents, families and friends, as we wanted to thank them for being strong and sharing their kindness every single day.

We danced and sang all morning, as we had the delightful Kevin Walsh performing some of his favourite songs for us. He certainly made our day, as he worked the room and serenaded some of our lovely ladies, who defiantly put smiles on their faces.

We also enjoyed a glass of fizz and some sweet treats made by our very own chef, Matt.

All our friends and family had a great time celebrating with their loved ones, and can't wait for the next event.